Method and apparatus for adaptive scaling route display

ABSTRACT

A system includes a processor configured to display a traveled-portion of a route, responsive to a request, the traveled-portion representing an entire route traveled since the request was received, including scaling the display so that an entire route is included in a window of fixed size, regardless of how large a distance the displayed traveled-portion represents.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The illustrative embodiments generally relate to methods and apparatusesfor adaptive scaling route display.

BACKGROUND

Many navigation processes are capable of displaying a whole route or aportion of a route. When a whole route is displayed, however, it istypically at the onset of a route, before the route has been traveled.Once the vehicle gets underway, the process typically simply displays aportion of the route that is upcoming within a chosen map scale.

Further, the already-traveled portion of the route is almost neverdisplayed, as it represents locations where the user has already been.Accordingly, most current navigation displays are not configured orsuited to display data about where a user has been, as opposed to wherea user is headed.

SUMMARY

In a first illustrative embodiment, a system includes a processorconfigured to display a traveled-portion of a route, responsive to arequest, the traveled-portion representing an entire route traveledsince the request was received, including scaling the display so that anentire route is included in a window of fixed size, regardless of howlarge a distance the displayed traveled-portion represents.

In a second illustrative embodiment, a computer-implemented methodincludes displaying a portion of a route already traveled by a vehiclein a window of fixed size, including scaling the displayed portion toaccommodate an entire route, regardless of the distance which the routerepresents, responsive to a traveled-route display request.

In a third illustrative embodiment, a computer implemented method forscaling a display to accommodate a traveled-portion of a route, suchthat the entire traveled-portion of the route is displayed, includesreceiving a GPS data point representing a next-point in a series ofpoints comprising the traveled-portion. The method also includesdetermining an X translation and a Y translation that would accommodatea new traveled-portion, including the GPS data point, within a window offixed size, currently including the displayed traveled-portion,responsive to determining that a line connecting the traveled-portion tothe GPS data point would not remain in the window. The method furtherincludes choosing one of the X translation and the Y translation as thebasis for scaling. The method also includes switching the non-chosentranslation to match the chosen translation. And the method includesscaling the displayed new traveled-portion according to the chosentranslation and centering the displayed new traveled portion aroundwhichever of the X and Y axis did not correspond to the chosentranslation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative vehicle computing system;

FIG. 2 shows three views of an adaptive route display, zooming toincorporate display of an entire route;

FIG. 3 shows a view of the adaptive route display, zooming toincorporate additional route-related data;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative process for display scaling to accommodatea growing route and data points; and

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative process for display scaling determination.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments are disclosed herein; however, it isto be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrativeand may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures arenot necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimizedto show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structuraland functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted aslimiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilledin the art to variously employ the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block topology for a vehicle basedcomputing system 1 (VCS) for a vehicle 31. An example of such avehicle-based computing system 1 is the SYNC system manufactured by THEFORD MOTOR COMPANY. A vehicle enabled with a vehicle-based computingsystem may contain a visual front end interface 4 located in thevehicle. The user may also be able to interact with the interface if itis provided, for example, with a touch sensitive screen. In anotherillustrative embodiment, the interaction occurs through, button presses,spoken dialog system with automatic speech recognition and speechsynthesis.

In the illustrative embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, a processor 3 controlsat least some portion of the operation of the vehicle-based computingsystem. Provided within the vehicle, the processor allows onboardprocessing of commands and routines. Further, the processor is connectedto both non-persistent 5 and persistent storage 7. In this illustrativeembodiment, the non-persistent storage is random access memory (RAM) andthe persistent storage is a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory. Ingeneral, persistent (non-transitory) memory can include all forms ofmemory that maintain data when a computer or other device is powereddown. These include, but are not limited to, HDDs, CDs, DVDs, magnetictapes, solid state drives, portable USB drives and any other suitableform of persistent memory.

The processor is also provided with a number of different inputsallowing the user to interface with the processor. In this illustrativeembodiment, a microphone 29, an auxiliary input 25 (for input 33), a USBinput 23, a GPS input 24, screen 4, which may be a touchscreen display,and a BLUETOOTH input 15 are all provided. An input selector 51 is alsoprovided, to allow a user to swap between various inputs. Input to boththe microphone and the auxiliary connector is converted from analog todigital by a converter 27 before being passed to the processor. Althoughnot shown, numerous of the vehicle components and auxiliary componentsin communication with the VCS may use a vehicle network (such as, butnot limited to, a CAN bus) to pass data to and from the VCS (orcomponents thereof).

Outputs to the system can include, but are not limited to, a visualdisplay 4 and a speaker 13 or stereo system output. The speaker isconnected to an amplifier 11 and receives its signal from the processor3 through a digital-to-analog converter 9. Output can also be made to aremote BLUETOOTH device such as PND 54 or a USB device such as vehiclenavigation device 60 along the bi-directional data streams shown at 19and 21 respectively.

In one illustrative embodiment, the system 1 uses the BLUETOOTHtransceiver 15 to communicate 17 with a user's nomadic device 53 (e.g.,cell phone, smart phone, PDA, or any other device having wireless remotenetwork connectivity). The nomadic device can then be used tocommunicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31 through, forexample, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In some embodiments,tower 57 may be a WiFi access point.

Exemplary communication between the nomadic device and the BLUETOOTHtransceiver is represented by signal 14.

Pairing a nomadic device 53 and the BLUETOOTH transceiver 15 can beinstructed through a button 52 or similar input. Accordingly, the CPU isinstructed that the onboard BLUETOOTH transceiver will be paired with aBLUETOOTH transceiver in a nomadic device.

Data may be communicated between CPU 3 and network 61 utilizing, forexample, a data-plan, data over voice, or DTMF tones associated withnomadic device 53. Alternatively, it may be desirable to include anonboard modem 63 having antenna 18 in order to communicate 16 databetween CPU 3 and network 61 over the voice band. The nomadic device 53can then be used to communicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle31 through, for example, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. Insome embodiments, the modem 63 may establish communication 20 with thetower 57 for communicating with network 61. As a non-limiting example,modem 63 may be a USB cellular modem and communication 20 may becellular communication.

In one illustrative embodiment, the processor is provided with anoperating system including an API to communicate with modem applicationsoftware. The modem application software may access an embedded moduleor firmware on the BLUETOOTH transceiver to complete wirelesscommunication with a remote BLUETOOTH transceiver (such as that found ina nomadic device). Bluetooth is a subset of the IEEE 802 PAN (personalarea network) protocols. IEEE 802 LAN (local area network) protocolsinclude WiFi and have considerable cross-functionality with IEEE 802PAN. Both are suitable for wireless communication within a vehicle.Another communication means that can be used in this realm is free-spaceoptical communication (such as IrDA) and non-standardized consumer IRprotocols.

In another embodiment, nomadic device 53 includes a modem for voice bandor broadband data communication. In the data-over-voice embodiment, atechnique known as frequency division multiplexing may be implementedwhen the owner of the nomadic device can talk over the device while datais being transferred. At other times, when the owner is not using thedevice, the data transfer can use the whole bandwidth (300 Hz to 3.4 kHzin one example). While frequency division multiplexing may be common foranalog cellular communication between the vehicle and the internet, andis still used, it has been largely replaced by hybrids of Code DomainMultiple Access (CDMA), Time Domain Multiple Access (TDMA), Space-DomainMultiple Access (SDMA) for digital cellular communication. If the userhas a data-plan associated with the nomadic device, it is possible thatthe data-plan allows for broad-band transmission and the system coulduse a much wider bandwidth (speeding up data transfer). In still anotherembodiment, nomadic device 53 is replaced with a cellular communicationdevice (not shown) that is installed to vehicle 31. In yet anotherembodiment, the ND 53 may be a wireless local area network (LAN) devicecapable of communication over, for example (and without limitation), an802.11g network (i.e., WiFi) or a WiMax network.

In one embodiment, incoming data can be passed through the nomadicdevice via a data-over-voice or data-plan, through the onboard BLUETOOTHtransceiver and into the vehicle's internal processor 3. In the case ofcertain temporary data, for example, the data can be stored on the HDDor other storage media 7 until such time as the data is no longerneeded.

Additional sources that may interface with the vehicle include apersonal navigation device 54, having, for example, a USB connection 56and/or an antenna 58, a vehicle navigation device 60 having a USB 62 orother connection, an onboard GPS device 24, or remote navigation system(not shown) having connectivity to network 61. USB is one of a class ofserial networking protocols. IEEE 1394 (FireWire™ (Apple), i.LINK™(Sony), and Lynx™ (Texas Instruments)), EIA (Electronics IndustryAssociation) serial protocols, IEEE 1284 (Centronics Port), S/PDIF(Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) and USB-IF (USB ImplementersForum) form the backbone of the device-device serial standards. Most ofthe protocols can be implemented for either electrical or opticalcommunication.

Further, the CPU could be in communication with a variety of otherauxiliary devices 65. These devices can be connected through a wireless67 or wired 69 connection. Auxiliary device 65 may include, but are notlimited to, personal media players, wireless health devices, portablecomputers, and the like.

Also, or alternatively, the CPU could be connected to a vehicle basedwireless router 73, using for example a WiFi (IEEE 803.11) 71transceiver. This could allow the CPU to connect to remote networks inrange of the local router 73.

In addition to having exemplary processes executed by a vehiclecomputing system located in a vehicle, in certain embodiments, theexemplary processes may be executed by a computing system incommunication with a vehicle computing system. Such a system mayinclude, but is not limited to, a wireless device (e.g., and withoutlimitation, a mobile phone) or a remote computing system (e.g., andwithout limitation, a server) connected through the wireless device.Collectively, such systems may be referred to as vehicle associatedcomputing systems (VACS). In certain embodiments particular componentsof the VACS may perform particular portions of a process depending onthe particular implementation of the system. By way of example and notlimitation, if a process has a step of sending or receiving informationwith a paired wireless device, then it is likely that the wirelessdevice is not performing that portion of the process, since the wirelessdevice would not “send and receive” information with itself. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand when it is inappropriate toapply a particular computing system to a given solution.

In each of the illustrative embodiments discussed herein, an exemplary,non-limiting example of a process performable by a computing system isshown. With respect to each process, it is possible for the computingsystem executing the process to become, for the limited purpose ofexecuting the process, configured as a special purpose processor toperform the process. All processes need not be performed in theirentirety, and are understood to be examples of types of processes thatmay be performed to achieve elements of the invention. Additional stepsmay be added or removed from the exemplary processes as desired.

With respect to the illustrative embodiments described in the figuresshowing illustrative process flows, it is noted that a general purposeprocessor may be temporarily enabled as a special purpose processor forthe purpose of executing some or all of the exemplary methods shown bythese figures. When executing code providing instructions to performsome or all steps of the method, the processor may be temporarilyrepurposed as a special purpose processor, until such time as the methodis completed. In another example, to the extent appropriate, firmwareacting in accordance with a preconfigured processor may cause theprocessor to act as a special purpose processor provided for the purposeof performing the method or some reasonable variation thereof.

The illustrative embodiments are presented with respect to aspects of amobile and/or vehicular application that allows a user to record, trackand view various aspects of a vehicle race. The race could be run on astreet or track, the application allows the user to track and recordrace-related data regardless of the environment in which the user isoperating.

While the illustrative processes are described with respect to such anapplication, they may also have general vehicular applicability and arenot always confined to applicability in a race-related setting. Forexample, without limitation, vehicle data, timing data, route data,track data and other recorded and playback-able data could all berecorded and viewed relating generally to any route or path, and thisdata could also be used to support other illustrative functionality,such as navigation improvements.

The illustrative embodiments relate to a scaling, adaptive routedisplay. As a vehicle travels, the route is displayed in a scalablewindow. While the actual size of the window may not scale, the zoom ofthe window can adaptively scale to accommodate a display of the entireroute as it forms (the display representing an already-traveled portionof a route). This allows a user to see a complete path of a travel forportions of a route already traveled. The display can also scale toaccommodate other data points, such as display of a ghost-vehicle (ifahead of the present vehicle on a route) and/or a start/finish line. Thescaling proposed herein attempts to keep the displayed route as large aspossible, by restrictively zooming to keep the route displayed while notover-zooming out and displaying the route as too minimal of a portion ofthe display.

FIG. 2 shows three views of an adaptive route display, zooming toincorporate display of an entire route. In the display 201, a start line213, a route-traveled 207 and a current position 231 are shown,occupying a predetermined portion of the displayed window. The user hasalready driven the portion 207, and as the user moves forward, thewindow will zoom out to accommodate the whole route.

The second window 203 shows the user having traveled further along theroute 209, which includes the portion 207 and a further portiontraveled. The vehicle 231 has moved along the route and the window hasbeen zoomed to accommodate the route, while still keeping the route aslarge as desired within the displayed window.

The third window 205 shows an even further position along the route 211.The vehicle 231 is now within a predetermined distance of a finish line217. Accordingly, a data point for the finish line has been added to thedisplayed information, and the display has been zoomed to accommodateboth the traveled portion of the route and the remaining route 215 andfinish line 217. The displayed data still occupies the predetermined ordesired portion of the displayed window, as the zoom has adapted allalong based on the actual data, as opposed to simply fixedly zooming outon both axes as time or the vehicle progresses.

FIG. 3 shows a view of the adaptive route display, zooming toincorporate additional route-related data. This is an alternative view301 of what was seen in display 201, and in this example the displayeddata includes a ghost car 307. The ghost car represents a previous tripalong the path, a competitor trip along the path, a best time along thepath or other data point acting as a pace car representing data. Sincethe ghost car is ahead of the user 231, the process has zoomed thedisplayed window to include a path 305 ahead and the ghost car 307. Anyrelevant data points can be added as needed. If the user overtakes theghost car, the rate of zoom may temporarily slow, since the window willhave already accommodated for the path ahead.

It is worth noting that if the user is driving in a circle, for example,the display will remain at a largely fixed perspective once the circlehas been completed once. The user could drive in twenty circles withouta zoom, then suddenly veer off in one direction and the display couldbegin to adapt again as the route traveled threatens to breach an edgeof the display.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative process for display scaling to accommodatea growing route and data points. In this example, the process beginsdrawing 401 the displayed route as the user begins traveling. As noted,the route tracks where the user has been, and the display zooms toaccommodate the user.

Whenever a new GPS point is recorded (as the vehicle travels), theprocess adds 403 the GPS point to a data set representing the routedisplayed. The route displayed is essentially a line connecting a seriesof recorded GPS data points.

The process determines 405 whether or not the current GPS data point anda line connecting to the GPS data point from the last GPS data pointwill remain inside the display window. If any of the data will falloutside the displayed window (or, for example, within a fixed marginframing the window), the process may scale 407 the display (by zoomingout along at least one axis).

Once the process scales the window sufficiently to contain the new data,the process may draw 409 a path line to the newly recorded GPS datapointdisplayed within the window. The window may be a simply display, lackingany features other than the actual route, for example. As such, the GPScoordinates serve to provide relative point positioning, as the relativeposition of each point is determinable related to each other point.

Since extra data points may also be accommodated by the display, theprocess may also determine 411 if there is a waypoint (finish line, pitstop, ghost car, etc) to be added to the display. If there is awaypoint, the process adds 413 the waypoint (or ghost car data GPSlocation value) to the data set for consideration by the scalingprocess.

Until the race or route reaches a finish point 415, the process cancontinue adding GPS data points and waypoint GPS data points and scalingaccordingly. Once the route finishes (or a race finishes), the processmay lock 417 the scale of the display, so that the display does notcontinue recording data unrelated to a race or route.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative process for display scaling determination.This represents one non-limiting example of scaling the display in amanner that still accommodates the displayed route fully. When thedisplay process determines 405 that scaling is needed, the processcomputes individual translations for each of the X and Y axis.

The process computes 501 an X axis translation that will fullyaccommodate the new route within the X vector. The process computes 503a Y axis translation that will fully accommodate the new route withinthe Y vector. The process in this example chooses 505 a particulartranslation along one axis to use, in this case the smaller translation.Since both translations may not be the same, and to preserve the routeshape, the process may then modify 507 the scale factor along the otheraxis to match the chosen translation.

The process then centers 509 the display based on the non-bounding axis.The process then uses the chosen translation to scale 511 the recordeddata set. This will allow the whole path to be redrawn while preservingthe general shape and dimensions of the displayed path, and using thechosen scale factor effectively zooms the window (from a visualstandpoint) based on the chosen translation factor. The process alsoupdates 513 any elements displayed within the window, based on thetranslation factor. The process can then proceed with route output 409.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined in logical manners to produce situationally suitable variationsof embodiments described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor configured to:until a route is complete, display a traveled-portion of a route,responsive to a request, the traveled-portion representing an entireroute traveled since the request was received, including scaling thedisplay so that the entire route traveled is included in a window offixed size, regardless of how large a distance the displayedtraveled-portion represents.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein therequest is included as part of an instruction to track vehicle data fora race.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the scaling is based on thesmaller of an X and Y axis translation needed to accommodate a routethat would pass an edge of the window in the absence of scaling.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, wherein the other of the X and Y axis translation isset to the equivalent of the smaller of the X and Y axis translation. 5.The system of claim 4, wherein the traveled-portion of the route iscentered around whichever of an X and Y axis that did not include thesmaller translation used as the basis for the scaling.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to display at leastone route-related data element, ahead of a current vehicle location onthe displayed traveled-portion, including scaling the display so thatthe entire route and the route-related element is included in thewindow.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the route-related data elementincludes a ghost vehicle.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein theprocessor is configured to display a modified route-traveled designatorline between the vehicle location on the displayed traveled-portion anda ghost vehicle location ahead on a route yet to be traveled.
 9. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the route-related data element includes adestination.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the destination isdisplayed as a finish line.
 11. The system of claim 6, wherein theprocessor is configured to display the route-related data element onlywhen the route-related data element is within a predetermined proximityto a current vehicle location.
 12. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: responsive to a traveled-route display request, displaying aportion of a route already traveled by a vehicle in a window of fixedsize, including scaling the displayed portion to accommodate an entireroute, regardless of a distance which the route represents.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the scaling is based on the smaller of an Xand Y axis translation needed to accommodate a route that would pass anedge of the window in the absence of scaling.
 14. The method of claim13, comprising setting the larger of the X and Y axis translation to anequivalent of the smaller of the X and Y axis translation.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, comprising centering the route around whichever ofan X and Y axis that did not include the smaller translation used as abasis for the scaling.
 16. The method of claim 12, comprising displayingat least one route-related data element, ahead of a current vehiclelocation on the displayed traveled-portion, including scaling thedisplay so that the entire route and the route-related element isincluded in the window.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein theroute-related data element includes a ghost vehicle.
 18. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the route-related data element includes a destinationdisplayed as a finish line within a predetermined proximity to a currentvehicle location.
 19. A computer implemented method for scaling adisplay to accommodate a traveled-portion of a route, such that anentire traveled-portion of the route is displayed, comprising: receivinga GPS data point representing a next-point in a series of pointscomprising the traveled-portion; determining an X translation and a Ytranslation that would accommodate a new traveled-portion, including theGPS data point, within a window of fixed size, currently including thedisplayed traveled-portion, responsive to determining that a lineconnecting the traveled-portion to the GPS data point would not remainin the window; choosing one of the X translation and the Y translationas the basis for scaling; switching a non-chosen translation to matchthe chosen translation; scaling a displayed traveled-portion, includingthe new traveled-portion, according to the chosen translation; andcentering the displayed new traveled portion around whichever of the Xand Y axis did not correspond to the chosen translation.
 20. The methodof claim 19, wherein the method includes receiving a GPS element pointrepresenting a route-related element in predefined proximity to acurrent vehicle location represented on the displayed traveled-portion;and scaling the display to accommodate the route-related elementaccording to the same process for scaling the display to accommodate theGPS data point.